This seminar focuses on the production and circulation of knowledge in the context of the administration of Spain's overseas territories. We will explore the significance of textual as well as visual descriptions of American as well as Pacific spaces through an ideological and socio-political perspective. Our main objective is to discover how actors belonging to distinct social groups contributed to the making of a culture of knowledge and how they themselves used the developing information infrastructure to articulate and negotiate their place or that of others within the local or imperial order. close

Padrón, Ricardo (2004): The Spacious World: Cartography, Literature, and Empire in Early Modern Spain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press - Portuondo, María M. (2009): Secret Science: Spanish Cosmography and the New World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press - Brendecke, Arndt (2009) Imperium und Empirie. Funktionen des Wissens in der Spanischen Kolonialherrschaft. Köln: Böhlau. close